Box Score

ERIE - Mercyhurst scored both second-half goals to pull away from a 2-2 tie at halftime, giving the Lakers a 4-2 win over No. 9-ranked East Stroudsburg University in non-conference field hockey on Sunday afternoon in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania.

Sophomore forward Ally Roth scored a pair of goals to rally the Warriors (2-3) from a 2-0 deficit to even the game at intermission, but Mercyhurst scored the go-ahead goal just over 14 minutes into the second half and added an insurance goal with nine minutes left.

Marissa Faso started the scoring for Mercyhurst (2-1) just 3:22 into the game, and Kelsey Lovelace made it 2-0 at the 15:20 mark.

Roth scored just under two minutes later, and brought the Warriors level with 7:05 left until halftime.

Blair Pembleton put the Lakers in front and Marissa Faso scored on a penalty stroke for the second-half scoring.

ESU, which started the week with a 4-2 win over No. 3-ranked Bloomsburg,  had a 20-11 advantage in shots, including 11-4 in the second half, and had a 14-6 edge in penalty corners.

Including a 2-1 loss to Limestone (S.C.) on Saturday, the Warriors outshot their opponents 32-20 and had a dominating 27-7 lead in penalty corners, but were outscored 6-3 over the weekend.

Freshman Danielle Ard made her first career start for the Warriors and had three saves. Jess Wess made six saves for Mercyhurst.

Roth's goals were her sixth and seventh of the season, as she has accounted for seven of ESU's 15 goals this season. She had eight goals through five games as a freshman, finishing with 10 and leading ESU with 28 points on 10 goals and eight assists.

ESU will host Mercyhurst in its PSAC opener in two weeks, a 3 p.m. start on Friday, Sept. 27. The PSAC moved to a single-division format this fall, resulting in 10 conference games and four "non-conference" games against PSAC opponents.

The Warriors will travel to two-time defending national champion West Chester next Saturday for more non-conference action.

Game notes
* ESU's two wins are both against teams ranked higher in the NFHCA DII preseason poll, a 3-2 win over No. 5 Merrimack and 4-2 win over No. 3 Bloomsburg. The Warriors three losses are to teams ranked lower than them - 6-5 to No. 10 Stonehill, and both games this weekend.